Home Invasion
by Imagination-Parade
Summary: Temperance Brennan discovers the possible downside to giving the Booth boys a key to her apartment building’s pool. Set after and spoilers for “Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood.”


_Hi everyone! Two stories in two days…I think this is a record for me. Can you tell I'm trying to avoid working on a Government Public Policy paper? Writing about Booth and Brennan is just so much more fun._

_This one is set shortly after 5.04 "The Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood," so there will obviously be spoilers for that episode. As always, Bones isn't mine, so I hope you enjoy the story, and don't forget to review!_

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Temperance Brennan walked into her apartment late one afternoon after a long day at work. She and her partner didn't have a case at the moment, a fact that enabled her to come home in the late afternoon instead of the late evening, but she was having difficulty identifying her latest limbo case. The stress of the day was taking its toll on her well-being, and she wanted nothing more than to fill her spacious bathtub with warm water and crawl into the tub with a glass a wine. That was when she realized that someone else seemed to be in her apartment.

As she was thinking about sinking into her tub, she realized that the low whirring she was hearing was not from her neighbors, but from her own bathroom. She looked back to the front door and found no signs of a break-in. Nothing seemed unusual to her until she looked down and found a pair of blue striped flip flops resting on her front doormat. Those were definitely not Brennan's, and she knew was definitely not alone in her home.

Her ears perked as she headed towards her bedroom. The shower in the adjoining bathroom was running, and she was positive she hadn't left it on. Ever since she became an anthropologist who often had to work with less-than-pristine bodies and crimes scenes, she had preferred to shower at night, so she would've noticed if the shower had been running before she left for work that morning. She drew her gun out of her bag, held it out in front of her, and slowly walked into her bedroom.

A brief moment of rational thought crossed her mind as she opened the bathroom door. Not many criminals would stop to take a shower in the middle of robbing someone's house. Temperance Brennan had encountered some pretty unusual cases and criminals throughout her years as a forensic anthropologist, though, so, trying to remain as quiet as she could, she walked up to the shower curtain, reached out her hand, and whipped the blue draping to the side. The man behind the curtain screamed, and she did, too, startled by his reaction.

"Jeez, Bones!" Seeley Booth screamed. "Haven't you ever heard of knocking? Why am I always naked when you do this?"

"This is _my_ apartment!" she replied. "Why are you naked in _my_ apartment? I thought you were a thief!"

"Why would you think that?" he asked, quickly moving his hands to cover himself.

"This is _my_ apartment!" she repeated. "I gave you a key to the _pool_, not my _home_!"

"What's the difference?" he asked, shutting off the water.

"The residential pool is in the basement. This is my private house!" she said. "They have two separate locks that require two separate keys!"

"Would you put that thing down?" Booth exclaimed, ducking as she swung the gun around as she spoke.

"Sorry," she said, lowering the weapon to her side.

"And could you turn around?" he asked.

She turned so her back was facing him and stood near the bathroom door.

"There was a strange man in my apartment. What was I supposed to think?" she said.

"You thought a burglar broke into your house to take a _shower_?" he asked.

"We've seen more ridiculous motives on the job before," she said.

"Didn't you see Parker?" he asked, grabbing a towel.

"No," she said. "Parker's here?"

"Hi, Dr. Bones," Parker said, walking into the bathroom holding a big purple popsicle.

"Where have you been?" Brennan asked. "How did I not notice you when I walked in?"

"I don't know," the boy shrugged. "I was sitting in one of your big living room chairs. You must have missed me." He loudly slurped at his frozen treat.

"I know you didn't get that from this apartment," Brennan said.

"No, there was an ice cream truck outside right as we got out of the pool and came upstairs," he said. He held the treat up to Brennan. "Want a lick?"

"No, thank you," Brennan said, scrunching up her face.

"Why were you screaming?" Parker asked.

"Bones scared me," Booth said.

"And your father frightened me," Brennan added.

"Oh. Why are you in the bathroom with my dad?" Parker asked.

"I thought your father was a criminal," Brennan said. "And it's _my_ bathroom."

"Are you going to shoot him?" Parker asked, eyeing the gun.

"No, she's not going to shoot me," Booth said, finally stepping out of the shower with a towel around his waist.

"Oh," Parker said. "Good. You have an awesome pool, Bones. You rock!"

Brennan turned to Booth. "Did he just call me a rock?"

"He means you're awesome, Bones," Booth said.

"Yes, I know. He's already told me that," Brennan said.

"You know," Booth said, looking down at his lack of clothing. "I'm still naked here, so if you wouldn't mind…"

"Oh, of course," Brennan said. She and Parker walked out of the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. They walked out of her bedroom and stopped in the hallway. "Parker, can I ask you something?"

"Sure," Parker said, licking his popsicle again.

"How did you and your father get into my house?" she asked.

"With the key you left out for us," Parker shrugged.

"I didn't leave a key out for you," she said.

"Really?" Parker asked. "Because Dad knew just where to look for it when we got off of the elevator."

Booth walked out of Brennan's bedroom dressed in jeans and a well-worn tee. Brennan glared at him.

"Watch it," Booth teased. "Your face may freeze that way."

Brennan shifted her glare to a look of utter confusion. "No, that is not true."

Booth chuckled. "Why the glare-y face, Bones?"

"You knew where my hidden key was? I never told you its location," she said.

"Yeah, we really need to talk about your hiding skills," Booth said. "Besides, you found my hidden key."

"You hid yours in a fake rock that only imbeciles would've been fooled by," Brennan protested. Parker, with one last, large slurp, finished off his popsicle.

"All done!" Parker declared. "My turn for the shower, right, Dad?"

"Yeah, buddy. I left a towel out for you," Booth said.

Parker ran off into Brennan's bedroom, while Brennan remained in the hallway, her mouth open in surprise.

"Am I your hotel now?" she asked.

"Did you just invite us to spend the night?" Booth asked, teasing her again.

"What? I don't…think that I did that," she said.

"I'm just messing with you," Booth smiled.

Booth began moving towards the living room, and Brennan followed, hot on his heels.

"There are such things as boundaries, you know," Brennan said. "If I had wanted you and Parker to help yourself to my shower, I would've given you a key to my residence as well."

"You don't want us here?" he asked, a subtle hint of sadness in his voice.

"Not when I don't know you're coming first!" she said.

He stopped and turned around to look at her. "You're really mad," he realized.

She sighed. "Only because you scared me to death and almost made me shoot you in front of your son."

"Okay, I apologize," Booth said. "I really didn't think you'd mind."

"You and Parker are welcome here anytime, Booth. I would just like at least a little prior notice before you come upstairs to my apartment," Brennan said.

"Of course," he said. "I'll call you next time."

"Thank you," she said as the two took a seat on her couch. "So is Parker still nagging you about getting a girlfriend?"

"That pool made him _pretty_ happy," Booth said.

"So that's a no?" Brennan asked.

"He's stopped trying to get me _a_ girlfriend," Booth said.

"Your words say good, but your tone says bad," Brennan noticed.

"Well, now he's pestering me about getting a _specific_ girlfriend," Booth revealed.

"He wants you and Rebecca to get back together?" Brennan assumed.

"What? No, Bones. No. He knows that won't be happening," Booth said. "We broke up before he was born. He's never even seen us together as a couple."

"So who does Parker want to be your girlfriend?" Brennan asked. "Angela? He spent a lot of time with Angela the other day."

"No, not Angela," Booth laughed. He paused for a moment. "You."

"Me?" she laughed.

"He likes you, Bones."

"But I thought he only cared about me being your girlfriend so he could have a pool. I gave him that," Brennan said.

"Yeah, apparently my plan to have dinner with you so Parker could see me interacting with a woman backfired just a…just a little bit," Booth admitted. "Now that he has his pool, he's been asking why something as stupid as a job is keeping you from being my girlfriend. He said if my job made it so you couldn't be my girlfriend, I should just get a new job."

"I wouldn't like that," Brennan said. "Plus, that would not be advisable considering the current state of the economy, not to mention the fact that our clearance rate is far too high for the FBI to allow you to dissolve our partnership."

"Relax," Booth laughed. "I'm definitely not going to quit my job on the advice of an eight-year-old."

"It's a valid reason, though…isn't it? We do work together, and that would make a sexual relationship inappropriate."

"Of course," Booth agreed immediately.

"Although…" Brennan started.

Booth perked up a bit. "Although?"

"Angela and Hodgins participated in a sexual relationship for years, and they work as efficiently now after they've ended that relationship as they did before it ever began. Though, they are more than likely the exception to the rule that states that romantic entanglements in the workplace undermine the business hierarchy rather than the ordinary example."

"Yeah, right, exception to every rule," Booth mumbled. "Though, you know, you did take a pretty long time to answer Parker after he asked why you couldn't be my girlfriend."

"I took an appropriate amount of time to craft an acceptable answer for his age level and mental abilities," she said.

"You froze," he said.

"No," she protested.

Parker ran out of Brennan's bedroom, wearing jeans and a tee, just like his dad. He carried a bag holding his wet bathing suit and stood by the front door.

"I put the towel in the hamper, just like you told me to," Parker said to Booth.

"Thanks," Brennan said.

"Can we go to the movies now, Dad?" Parker asked. "I'm really excited about the 3D!"

"Wanna come, Bones?" Booth asked. "It's gonna rain spaghetti and meatballs…in 3D…could be fun."

Brennan laughed. "Now that you've vacated my bathroom, I think I'm going to stay here, but enjoy the film."

"Bye, Bones! Thanks again for the pool!" Parker called, opening the front door and stepping into the complex hallway.

Booth remained on the couch, stealing a few more seconds with Brennan. He would've been content to spend the rest of the day in her living room with her. Brennan finally looked over at him.

"You better be going," she said. "You don't want to miss that spaghetti storm."

"Yeah," he agreed.

"I'll see you tomorrow at work."

"Before that," he said. "Breakfast at the diner?"

"Yes, okay," she accepted.

"Hey, Bones," he said. She glanced at him again, and he looked directly into her eyes. "Just for the record…I think we could be the exception to the rule, too." Brennan looked a little stunned and opened her mouth to speak. She closed it again after a few seconds, realizing she didn't know what to say. "See you in the morning," Booth smiled.

With another smile and a little wave as he shut the door, the Booth boys were gone, and Temperance Brennan was left sitting on her couch, astonished by how a suspected home invader had turned into a conversation that had not only rendered her speechless, but one that was filled with promises.

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_Thanks for reading! Please leave a review if you've got some time :)_


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